HEALTH CARE
ABC News’ Benjamin Bell: “Bill Clinton: When It Comes to Obamacare, GOP ‘Begging for America to Fail’” The Republican Party is “begging for America to fail” by rooting for President Obama’s signature health care law to fail, former President Bill Clinton said during an interview for ”This Week” with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, “I’ve never seen a time — can you remember a time in your lifetime when a major political party was just sitting around, begging for America to fail … I don’t know what’s going to happen. LINK

USA Today’s Kelly Kennedy: “‘Family glitch’ in health law could be painful” A “family glitch” in the 2010 health care law threatens to cost some families thousands of dollars in health insurance costs and leave up to 500,000 children without coverage, insurance and health care analysts say. That’s unless Congress fixes the problem, which seems unlikely given the House’s latest move Friday to strip funding from the Affordable Care Act. LINK

SHUTDOWN
The Washington Times’ Stephen Dinan: “House passes bill to delay Obamacare, keep government funded” With a government shutdown two days away, House Republicans powered their latest stopgap spending bill through the chamber early Sunday morning, trying yet again to put a dent in Obamacare while vowing they don’t want a shutdown. Aided by some Democrats, the GOP passed legislation to repeal a widely despised Obamacare tax on medical devices, to halt the entire health law for a year, and to ensure troops get paid even if the government shuts down. LINK

The Boston Globe’s Noah Bierman: “As shutdown looms, GOP ties funding bill to health law” The nation careened Saturday toward a likely shutdown as House Republicans insisted on a new measure that would fund the government only if President Obama’s health law is delayed by a year and a tax needed to fund it is scrapped. The House decision to escalate the standoff with Democrats in the Senate over Obama’s signature legislation ensures the tense brinksmanship that has consumed Washington for the past two weeks will continue until the final hours before the funding deadline of 12:01 a.m. Tuesday — and perhaps beyond. LINK

Bloomberg’s Roxana Tiron, Kathleen Hunter & Michael Bender: “Government Shutdown 1 Day Away as Deal Evades Lawmakers” Congress is leaving itself just one day tomorrow to end a budget stalemate that raises the risk of the first government shutdown in 17 years as Republicans sought to shift blame for the gridlock to Democrats. The Senate will reconvene tomorrow afternoon, when it will reject a House plan passed early today to delay and limit President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. In response, the House would add “another provision” to the spending measure and send it back to the Senate, said Representative Kevin McCarthy, the top House Republican vote counter. LINK

The New York Times’ Brian Knowlton: “The Battle In Congress On Spending And Debt” If Republicans in Congress and the Obama White House fail to resolve their differences in time, the federal government will begin a partial shutdown at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, with all but essential services curtailed or closed entirely. A few weeks later, another deadline will arrive when the government bumps up against its legally authorized borrowing limit. If Congress does not vote to increase the debt limit, it could set off severe financial problems for the government as it scrambles for the cash it needs to meet its commitments. LINK

The Washington Posts’ Zachery A. Goldfarb: “Danger To Economy Worries Experts Weighing Potential Government Shutdown, Default” A prolonged government shutdown — followed by a potential default on the federal debt — would have economic ripple effects far beyond Washington, upending financial markets, sending the unemployment rate higher and slowing already tepid growth, according to a widerange of economists. A shutdown of a few days might do little damage, but economists, lawmakers and analysts are increasingly bracing for a shutdown that could last a week or more, given the distance between Republicans and Democrats. Such an outcome would suck money out of the economy and spread anxiety among consumers and businesses in a way that is likely to hold back economic activity. LINK

Politico’ Manu Raju and Burgess Everett: “Government Shutdown: Harry Reid Spearheads Democratic Strategy” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has been the most ardent proponent of President Barack Obama taking a hard line with House Republicans in the latest fiscal crisis engulfing Washington. And so far, Reid is getting his way. When the president considered sitting down with the four congressional leaders in the White House ahead of the deadline to avert a government shutdown, Reid privately urged Obama to call off the meeting, according to several people familiar with the situation. Reid believed that it would amount to nothing more than a photo-op that would give the false impression that a serious negotiation was occurring, even warning he wouldn’t attend such a session. Obama scrapped it. LINK

Politico’s Jake Sherman and John Bresnahan: “Government Shutdown: John Boehner’s Pivotal Moment” Speaker John Boehner spent months trying to avoid a government shutdown. Now he’s staring one straight in the eye with no obvious way out. Despite his backroom pleas and carefully crafted strategies, Boehner — a veteran of the shutdown battles of the mid-1990s — was unable to convince a hard-line faction of House GOP lawmakers that they should save their legislative brawls for the debt ceiling fight, where Boehner thought he could drag President Barack Obama to the negotiating table.LINK

The Los Angeles Times’ Lisa Mascaro: “Threat of federal shutdown is windfall for political fundraisers” As Americans awoke to find Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) still conducting his all-night talkathon to stop President Obama’s healthcare law on Wednesday, some also found a pleading email in their in-boxes. “We can win this fight, but we must do our part,” read the message from the Senate Conservatives Fund with the subject line “Still Standing.” LINK

The Wall Street Journal’s Janet Hook and Kristina Peterson: “Government Heads Toward Shutdown” The nation braced for a partial shutdown of the federal government, as time for Congress to pass a budget before a Monday midnight deadline grew perilously short and lawmakers gave no signs Sunday they were moving toward a resolution. Leaders of both parties said they wanted to avoid the first federal closure since 1996, but their public appearances seemed aimed more at affixing blame for the impasse. LINK

VOTING RIGHTS
The New York Times’ Charlie Savage: “Justice Department Poised To File Lawsuit Over Voter ID Law” The Justice Department is expected to sue North Carolina on Monday over its restrictive new voting law, further escalating the Obama administration’s efforts to restore a stronger federal role in protecting minority voters after the Supreme Court struck down part of the Voting Rights Act, according to a person familiar with the department’s plans. The lawsuit, which had been anticipated, will ask a federal court to block North Carolina from enforcing four disputed provisions of its voting law, including a strict photo identification requirement. The lawsuit will also seek to reimpose a requirement that North Carolina obtain “preclearance” from the federal government before making changes to its election rules. LINK

The Washington Post’s Holly Yeager: “Justice Department To Sue North Carolina Over Voting Law” The Justice Department will sue North Carolina on Monday over the state’s new voting law, according to a person briefed on the department’s plans, the latest move by the Obama administration to counter a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that officials have said threatens the voting rights of minorities. LINK

The Washington Post’s Michael J. Mishak: “Fight Is On Over Efforts To Tighten Voting Rules; Critics See It As A Violation Of Voting Rights Act” Emboldened by the Supreme Court decision that struck down part of the Voting Rights Act, a growing number of Republican-led states are moving aggressively to tighten voting rules. Lawsuits by the Obama administration and voting rights activists say those efforts disproportionately affect minorities. At least five Southern states, no longer required to ask Washington’s permission before changing election procedures, are adopting voter-identification laws or toughening existing requirements. LINK